20 May 2009, London

Economic events of the last nine months have highlighted the
extent to which activities in one country now affect many
others. Yet such globalisation has long been apparent to
those involved with environmental conservation, with the seminal UN
Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972) bringing
global ecological inter-dependence into mainstream political and
public awareness. Since that time, multiple international
environmental treaties have been developed to enhance international
co-operation and to co-ordinate national responses to international
environmental issues.

“Global Biodiversity Mechanisms” was a one day conference
organised by JNCC that aimed to review and reflect on recent MEA
outcomes in support of the process of implementation of
UK obligations under these. But, rather than reviewing the
Convention meetings one by one, a thematic approach was taken, thus
facilitating consistency in developing evidence needs and
policy responses. Each of the following themes was
addressed:

the impacts of climate change and
biodiversity, including implications of expanding markets
for biofuels;

implementing the Ecosystem Approach and better
understanding the services provided to humanity by ecosystems;

how best to support the delivery of conservation in the
UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies –
home to globally important biodiversity; and

the science-policy interface - what evidence
do decision-makers need and how can this best be provided?

The conference comprised presentations on a number of
cross-cutting themes, followed by a series of parallel workshops
which gave an opportunity for detailed discussion of outcomes,
implications for the UK and areas where UK may particularly wish to
further contribute to relevant international processes.

The presentations at the conference, the outcome of the various
workshops and plenary discussions, and briefing material on the
various themes and the outcome of recent MEA meetings are available
[below].